butchery advice

[brokenscale]

So I have decided to take my culinary journey on a new path this week. The restaurant is doing well and I want to open a butcher shop. One that focuses on grass fed organic local sourced meat. I will break down whole animals etc. Aside from breaking down cuts, the extent of my butchery is rabbits. I can do them proficiently and quickly, i was thinking about taking fleisher's class in NY http://www.fleishers.com/consulting-training.htm Anyone have any reccomendations or ideas of other routes to take?

Half the shop will be halal, then partitioned off next door will be the Americana version of the store where we do our non halal stuff like pork. Still trying to figure out the logistics of it all but im excited.

[AAQuesada]

Seems expensive to me, but it might be your only option. It wasnt that hard to learn (I have done whole Veal, Pig, Lamb..) but it helps to work with someone who has done it before.

Maybe you can find a good retired butcher in your area who might come in and help set you up and do some consulting.

[brokenscale]

its not about learning how to butcher, i think anyone can learn that. its more so the business end of things. Im sure it has its tips and tricks and the course goes through that end of things. i thought about hiring a consultant but the problem is all the butchers here are arab. Which poses 2 problems, the first is that they are halal butchers so they wont touch the pig, leaving the americana side with no support. Second, isnt the fact that there first language is arabic, because i speak it fluently but the fact that they have an arab mentality when it comes to business. Im a sanitation nazi in the kitchen and everything has a rhyme reason and a rule. I just cant do business the way they do. I have tried it before and it was too much stress.

A thought, what do you all think about trying to intern with one of fleishers exstudents

[AAQuesada]

See if you can talk to a successful butcher out of your area/that you are not going to be in competition with and see if you can get some informal advice. Another idea is to see if Fleichers will let you talk to some people who have taken the course and see if it matches your needs. Actually I'd be surprised if they didn't do some consulting formal or informal. I hear SFBI does on the Baking end.